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New Trouble On The Line

By Sarah E. Needleman, printed in The Wall Street Journal

For years, the phone interview was a preliminary step that allowed an
employer to give a candidate the once-over and schedule an in-person
interview. But these days, many recruiters are using the phone interview to
pose the kinds of in-depth questions previously reserved for finalists.
What's more, job hunters say the bar for getting to the next level has been
raised much higher, catching many of them off-guard.

In a recent first interview for a senior marketing job, Robyn Cobb was
grilled by a hiring manager for an hour and a half on topics ranging from
her work history and marketing philosophy to her knowledge of the company
and its industry.

"I thought it was never going to end," says the 45-year-old Ms. Cobb, who
lives in Alpharetta, Ga., and was laid off in December from a midsize
communications firm.

Until recently, candidates could often breeze through most phone
interviews in 10 minutes or less by answering a few softball questions.
Little preparation was necessary, and most people could expect to be invited
for a "real" interview before hanging up.

These days, job hunters are finding that they need to reserve an hour or
more for a phone interview. They may be asked to discuss their full work
history, including the exact dates of their experience in various business
areas. They may also be expected to cite examples and exact stats that
illustrate their strengths and offer details on how they would handle the
position.

During a call earlier this year about a director-of-Internet-marketing
job, Jaclyn Agy of Wheat Ridge, Colo., says she was asked to describe about
10 different marketing initiatives she's worked on, plus provide metrics
resulting from each. "I didn't have those stats off the top of my head," she
recalls of the hour-long conversation. "I expected to be asked that in a
face-to-face."

Some job recruiters are starting to screen job applicants over the phone.
Clarity Media Group CEO Bill McGowan explains how to avoid a few common
mistakes.

Ms. Agy, 30, says she assumed she'd need only to describe two or three
past accomplishments in general terms. "I was taken back by how specific
[the interviewer] was getting," she says. Ms. Agy was better prepared for a
follow-up phone interview. She was later invited to meet with eight members
of the hiring company in its Denver office, though she didn't land the
position.

Employers say they've raised the phone-interview stakes in part because
they're attracting more candidates who meet their basic qualifications.
They're digging deep to identify the best ones, and in some cases adding
second-round rigor to phone screens as one way to accomplish that.

"You can be pickier," says Joyce A. Foster, vice president of human
resources at Hilex Poly Co. LLC in Hartsville, S.C. Salaried job openings at
the company's 10 U.S. locations have been attracting up to three times as
many qualified applicants -- including more candidates with experience in
Hilex's niche, plastic film and bag manufacturing and recycling -- than
during more robust economic times, she says.

"Before, if a person had only recycling experience in paper, we might
have said OK," Ms. Foster says. "Today we can be more specific. I'm going to
find someone who's an even better fit."

Recruiters are also seeking to weed out those who seem likely to change
jobs as soon as the economy turns around. "We're trying to determine whether
what we're offering truly meets their long-term objectives," says Paul
Newman, assistant vice president of human resources at OppenheimerFunds. And
when it comes to candidates who were laid off, recruiters for the New
York-based asset-management firm want to know the circumstances behind what
happened. "Was this person a high-performance, talented individual who was
let go because of the economics of the business," he says, "or an average
employee let go in the first round" of layoffs?

For many firms, evaluating candidates over the phone also serves as a way
to save on recruiting costs. "In this economy, you can't afford to fly every
person out for an interview," says Jeff Cousens, vice president of
organizational development at Patrick Energy Services Inc. in Lisle, Ill.
After joining the energy concern in January, he instructed recruiters to
complete up to four comprehensive phone interviews with candidates before
inviting finalists in. Previously, they made just one brief call, mainly to
schedule in-person interviews. "When a candidate comes in to meet the hiring
manager, recruiters have already gone through every detail to make sure
they're a fit," says Mr. Cousens.

Job seekers should prepare for a phone interview as seriously as they do
for an in-person one. When asked about your qualifications, for example, you
can craft a better answer by asking what the company wants and why, says
J.T. O'Donnell, a career strategist in North Hampton, N.H.

If you're asked how many years of experience you have with a program you
have used extensively, but not for years, you could reply by asking how much
is required and at what level, says Ms. O'Donnell. Maybe the company chose a
number based on how much experience the last person in the position had, and
you might have just as much, but in a condensed time frame. You can then
provide a convincing reason as to why you should be considered for the job
even if your answer doesn't match exactly what the recruiter is looking for.

You should also prepare to answer more complex and detailed questions in
phone interviews by creating a list of key statistics and abbreviated
answers to commonly asked questions, says Bill McGowan, founder of
communications-coaching firm Clarity Media Group Inc. Some examples: What do
you know about the company? Why do you want the job? What are your greatest
strengths? What are your career goals? How do you see yourself fitting in?

"What traps a lot of people is they think and talk at the same time. They
make up answers on the fly," says Mr. McGowan. "It's better if you know your
conversational path."

Don't expect to defer answering questions to your first meeting with a
hiring manager, says Maureen Crawford Hentz, a talent-acquisition manager at
Danvers, Mass.-based lighting manufacturer Osram Sylvania Inc. That may have
been the case in the past, but not now. "People think if you're talking to
someone in HR, this isn't a real interview," she says. But these days, it
might be your only shot.

Be sure to brush up on your phone etiquette, too. Ms. Crawford Hentz says
candidates have put her on hold while they answered another call or tended
to their children. Once she could tell a candidate was visiting a
drive-through restaurant during a call because she heard a loudspeaker
requesting the person's lunch order.

Finally, be mindful of common faux pas, such as giving long-winded
answers that go off topic. "Sometimes the longer you talk, the more it
sounds like you're trying to explain your way through something," says Mr.
McGowan. "The most confident people don't need to drone on." Another common
flub: answering recruiters' questions before they've finished speaking. Not
only does that show disrespect, but it "makes it seem like you have stocked,
canned answers," he says.